HCES stresses rules, routine for beginning of school year

(Editor’s Note: The following was submitted by Richard Todd, Hickman County Elementary School Principal)

We’ve had a great first three days of school! The students have been wonderful, and it’s obvious almost every one of them was glad to return to school. I have to admit…we have a lot of fun at HCES as we learn and work each day.

Our main goal this week is to get students back in the routine of school, and teach (perhaps reteach?) rules and procedures to ensure that during class, traveling to various locations within the building, and being in non-learning situations such as the cafeteria and playground (which, as you might expect, is where many of our discipline problems occur) go smoothly and without problems. However, a secondary goal we have this week is to remind students that at Hickman County Elementary, we are here to learn, but we’re going to have some fun doing it.

We really began teaching the three Rs – reading, writing and arithmetic – along with the three modern Rs of respect, responsibility and relationships Aug. 14. Students will begin seeing homework this week, they’ll start having quizzes and tests for which they need to study, and we’ll begin assessing students over the next couple of weeks to ensure that they’re at grade level with their reading and math skills, and figuring out how we can help the students who are not.

A few important dates are Aug. 28 – Yearbook photos for preschool, kindergarten, first grade and second grade; Aug. 29 – Yearbook photos for grades 3-6; Sept. 5, 7, 12 and 14 – Grandparents Days, we will know grade levels/homerooms for each day soon; Sept. 6 – WATCH Dog Dads kickoff; Oct. 8-12 – Fall Break; Oct. 26 – Fall Festival; and Oct. 31 – Halloween parties.

Spirit Days are Aug. 10 – Baseball day, represent your favorite team; Aug. 17 – HCES is Super, wear a superhero T shirt; Aug. 24 – HCES is a Top School, wear a hat; and Aug. 31 – Spirit Day, wear red and black.

Parents, please bring in Boxtops that have been saved this summer. Hickman County Elementary benefits from the donation of the Boxtops from various food and other household products. We currently have a Boxtops box in our front lobby at school, and parents are welcome to drop them off there, hand them to one of us in the car pick-up or drop-off line, or send them in a Ziploc bag in a child’s folder. We benefit greatly from them, and the money always goes towards something to benefit HCES students.

Thanks for sending us your kids. We love our jobs!